Good plant #23 - Miscanthus Sinensis 'Malepartus'

This is my favourite tall ornamental grass.   It has a really long season of interest:

• In spring, you get purple tinged grass shoots
• In early summer, you get a plethora of graceful leaves
• In late summer/ autumn, you get the same gorgeous leaves combined with shimmering red flower heads which turn golden
• In winter, you get yellowy golden leaves and seed heads which maintain their integrity right through to the end of the winter

This plant will tolerate most soils and sun conditions but does best in  fertile well-drained soil in full sun.

To maintain this plant, in very late winter or very early spring (but not in frosty conditions) cut back all of the growth to about 4 inches from the ground.  Be careful not to damage any new shoots of grass.

It's a doddle to propagate - in early spring I just drive a sharp spade through the middle and replant one half and backfill the gap with some soil based compost.

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